Marte and others seek rebound
Standing near the batting cage on Monday morning, Ketel Marte waved to the small group of reporters allowed inside Salt River Fields for the Diamondbacks’ first full-squad workout of spring training. Over the next 10 minutes, Marte alternated between blasting balls out to right field and dancing to the music blaring across the practice fields.
It was a scene that encapsulated what spring is about for a baseball club: Despite coming off a disappointing season, Marte was upbeat, an embodiment of hope. He also is a poster child for a roster filled with players looking to rebound.
The Diamondbacks finished 25-35 and in last place in the National League West last year. The pandemic-shortened season wreaked havoc on teams and players throughout the sport; it seemed to prove particularly challenging for players up and down the Diamondbacks’ roster.
Neither the world nor the sport are back to the way it used to be — the Diamondbacks are holding team meetings this spring in a giant tent set up outside
their clubhouse — but the club is hopeful this year will feel closer to normal.
“We have a lot of veterans, a lot of guys who know where they need to be on February 1, March 1, April 1,” Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen said. “Then to go through last year, with the start and the stop (of spring training), and not being sure (when the season will begin). Those things take time. It’s one of those weird years that came down to who came out the hottest. We came out a little slow and dug ourselves a little bit of a hole.”
That was true, in some ways, for the way Marte’s season unfolded. On Monday afternoon, Marte sat for a video call with reporters offered reasons for why he expects to once again be the sort of impact slugger he was in 2019.
Marte is far from alone in his desire to turn back the clock. Madison Bumgarner, Carson Kelly, Eduardo Escobar and Luke Weaver are among the other returning players coming off disappointing years.
Marte said he expects to get back to having the kind of patient approach he had in years past.
He said he is working hard with hitting coaches on elevating the ball. And he seemed to indicate that the left wrist injury that sent him to the injured list in September played a bigger part in his down year than he had previously suggested.
Still, while he appears to be the most logical candidate to see the bulk of the time in center field, his position for this year remained an open question — and a confusing one. Both manager Torey Lovullo and General Manager Mike Hazen said the team had already had preliminary discussions with Marte about where he would play. But Marte said otherwise.
“I haven’t had that conversation with Torey or the coaches,” Marte said, speaking through interpreter Richard Saenz. He later added, “I’m looking forward to having a conversation with Torey regarding where I’m going to play.”
Beyond that, Marte said the same thing he has been telling reporters for years regarding his position: He’d prefer to play in one spot but would do whatever the team asked.
“Wherever Torey needs me in the lineup, I’ll be ready, whether it’s in the outfield or at second base,” he said.
Marte entered last season with a career 8.2 percent walk rate. That plummeted to 3.6 percent in 195 plate appearances last year. Marte intimated his pitch selection was as good a reason as any for his drop-off in production, and Hazen pointed to it as an example of how the shortened season played mind games with players.
“(With) the 60-game season, (Marte was) going up there trying to put up production in a shortened window,” Hazen said. “That would be my guess (that the walk rate) is one of the things that would suffer. That’s always been something that he’s been really, really good at.”
As for his wrist injury, Marte said at the time he went on the injured list that it had been bothering him for only a few days. He made it sound like it was a bigger deal than that on Monday, though he also declined to go into further detail, saying he had already answered that question “about 10 times.”
“What happened last year has passed,” Marte said. “Maybe some of the health protocols hurt the team a little bit. It wasn’t the season we were expecting. But this year I’m looking forward to having a better season.”